"When it comes down to it," said North Valley's Kerissa D'Arpino of when her and her sister, Venessa, line up for a sprint, "we look at each other and we're like enemies, and then we become friends and sisters again after the race."

Kerissa got the better of Venessa at the 65th annual Grants Pass Rotary Invitational at Grants Pass High, winning the three races in which they went head-to-head and, further, erasing her sister from the record book in the 100 meters.

"Honestly, having Venessa holding all the records here pushes me harder," said Kerissa. "It's me and her, we're the competition."

Venessa was at a bit of a disadvantage. She suffered a collapsed lung two weeks ago, was sidelined a week and returned to practice this week.

Kerissa had the top marks in the state for all classifications in the 100, 200 and 400 meters entering the meet and proceeded to win each of those races Saturday, just ahead of her sister, who ranks second in the state in all three.

The battles the two Oregon State recruits waged were among the highlights of a meet that featured Grants Pass winning the boys and girls team titles and a couple other impressive record or near-record individual performances.

The Caver girls tallied 122 points. Roseburg was second with 72 and North Medford third with 60.

North Medford's Halley Folsom won two events, taking the girls high jump and 300 hurdles; was on a winning relay and was third in the triple jump.

The Black Tornado got one other victory — on a day when they were in short supply for local athletes — in the boys 4x100 relay.

The big marks of the day were by Roseburg's Gabrielle Kearney, who eclipsed the 30-year-old meet record in the javelin with a throw of 157 feet. The mark of 148-9 that had stood since 1984 was by Marshfield's Clarinda Wilson.

Justin Petz of La Pine gave a valiant effort at usurping the pole vault record of Eagle Point's Robbie Johnston, but on Petz's third and final attempt at 16-1, the bar wiggled after he nicked it, looked like it might stay, then fell to the dismay of an attentive crowd.

Petz's winning mark was 15-9. Johnston cleared 16-0 in 2004.

In the girls pole vault, Churchill's Samantha Tollerud set a meet record of 12-3.

The D'Arpino girls were again the class of the field in the sprints.

Kerissa won the 100 in 12.18 seconds, just .01 off her season best and better than Venessa's meet record last year of 12.27. Venessa's runner-up time was 12.33.

In the 200, it was Kerissa in 24.99 and Venessa in 25.32.

In the 400, Kerissa clocked 55.99 and Venessa 56.22.

"It's all right," said Venessa. "State's where it matters, right? I'm just kidding. I'm happy either way, if we're one or two."

They didn't get that opportunity last week in the Centennial Invitational in Gresham. Venessa has sporadic nerve pain in the area of her rib cage and takes injections to block it. She's been afflicted since age 12, but this time the needle went too deep and punctured a lung.

She recovered in time to resume training but, in her absence, Kerissa was a bit lost. At the Centennial meet, she didn't approach her standards in the sprints and didn't win any of the three races.

"I was awful that whole meet," she said.

"Just to have her (Venessa) back gives me that confidence back," said Kerissa, "because who I run with and who I'm stride for stride with is there."

Kerissa was particularly pleased with the 400 because she ran it the way she's wanted to all season.

"I have a tendency of slowing down in the first or second corner," she said, "and this time I made sure I kept my strides through the backstretch and kept the constant speed that I need to get around the track."

The D'Arpinoes have their sites set on the state meet — and more records. Venessa created a buzz a year ago, shattering the Class 4A meet records in the three sprints.

"Our goal is to break them again," she said. "We haven't run that fast yet this year, but we're actually ahead of schedule."

Kerissa wants a piece of some, if not all, the records.

"That would be my main motivation," she said. "I want to be the one who keeps my name there. Maybe she can have one."

It'll be difficult, Kerissa added, because the marks Venessa set — 100 (12.04), 200 (24.11) and 400 (54.68) — are very fast.

The two regularly lift weights through the week, said Kerissa, so when they taper for state, "Our times are going to drop," she said. "It's going to be easier than it was last year."

Folsom was again the big local winner and came very close to setting the Black Tornado high jump record she so covets.

The junior cleared 5-4 on her second attempt. She made three good runs at 5-6 and missed on her third try by the scantest of margins. The school record is 5-6, a height she's made in practice.

Folsom claimed the 300 hurdles in 45.75, just ahead of South Medford's Emily Lemons (46.48), and took part on the triumphant 4x400 relay with Olivia Lethlean, Michala Denn and Savannah Greenwade. Their time was 4:05.14.

Ashland's Kelsey McKelvey set a personal best in placing second in the javelin at 125-4.

The North Medford boys 4x100 relay of Daniel Schuler, Michael Wilkins, Josh Hansen and Aaron Browne-Moore ran 43.31 for the Tornado's lone win. The same four ran to second place in the 4x400 relay.

Ray Schireman produced a second in the 1,500 in 4:06.65 to help North's cause, and Mario Filippi tied for second in the high jump (6-4) and was third in the pole vault (13-6).

Other strong showings in the boys meet were by St. Mary's Tracy Salgado, whose runner-up 800 time of 2:00.99 puts him third in the Class 3A ranks; and Crater's Ryan Davis, who PR'd in the shot put at 49-0 to place second.